What's up neighbor?
by faultymindpalace
Summary: It's 3am and both Eponine and Enjolras can't sleep
There was a loud banging on his door. He groaned upon hearing the sound. He doesn't need this right now. He remained seated on the floor, hoping that the knocker would assume he's asleep and leave. Oh he wished he was asleep but planks of wood were scattered on the floor, along with nuts and bolts, screws and drivers. Enjolras rubbed his face with his palm. He needs to assemble his newly bought bed and he swears the assembly manual is written in a different language. He could call his friends but it's too late in the evening (or early in the morning, mind you) to disturb them. Ugh, he should've invited one of them over to help but he was so sure that he would figure it out. He could call his parents but out of principle, and pride, he won't. How can he prove to them that he can live on his own when he can't even assemble a simple bed?

The banging was back again and Enjolras groaned again. He pushed himself out of the floor, tossing the manual haphazardly on the floor. He tiptoed his way out of his room, careful to not step on something sharp. He rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. He's too tired for human interaction in this hour sans coffee (of course Coufeyrac, I'll buy the bed instead of the coffee machine). He turned the squeaky knob, taking a mental note to oil it later, and opened the door. To his surprise, there in the empty hallway stood, a woman with reddish brown hair tamed in a messy bun. She was clad only in shorts and a sweater. She scoffed in response as the brightness of the room momentarily blinded her.

"Ugh god damn it" she muttered. "Dude. Its like 3am and I'm exhausted and I can hear you raging next door about failing at putting an ikea bed together..."

"Excuse me?" said, his voice huskier than usual (must be from the fatigue). The girl stopped rubbing her eyes and looked up at him.

"Holy shit you're cute." she muttered out loud. Enjolras froze where he stood. Her tired amber eyes gazing up at his. A blush started up at the base of his neck and he tried to fight from creeping up to his cheeks. He knew she was doing the same. Amazingly though, she let out a mix of a giggle and a snort, laughing her comment off.

"That's beside the point." she said waving her hand in a circle. "So you have a bed that needs assembling?" she asked. Her tiredness seemed to vanish at the drop off a hat and he found himself rejuvenated. Still, he stood still, eyeing her. This building is safe, yes, his mother made sure of it, but still.

"I don't need your help." he said, his hand pushing the door slowly but she held it open with her hand. A flare of anger started to rise up in him but she immediately stomped it out.

"Look, blondie, I get it. Both of us need some sleep but I'm guessing you're new here aren't you?" He nodded yes.

"Then lesson number one, these walls." she knocked on the wall, creating a hollow sound. "Are as thin as a sheet, so no loud sexy times if that's what you're thinking." Enjolras was taken aback back at her comment. "And I can practically hear you next door and colorful vocabulary by the way." He blushed a deep red, realizing the possibility of her hearing him swearing.

"So here I am, hoping to help you fix your bed so both of us can get our much needed "beauty" sleep." she said with matching air quotes. Enjolras contemplated upon letting a stranger in his home but seeing that he's desperate to get this bed assembled and he has no one else to turn to, he took a step back and let her in.

"If you're too concerned about letting a stranger in your home, my name's Eponine by the way. I live in 3B." she walked in.

"Enjolras." he replied. He led her to the bedroom and upon seeing the wayward pieces on the floor she let out a low whistle.

"Let me guess. Ikea?" Enjolras nodded as he went back inside and handed her the paper manual he tossed on the floor moments ago.

She took the manual with a yawn and rubbed her face. She leaned against the door frame with one leg crossing the other. She looked so comfortable outside her own home wearing nothing but her pyjamas. While Enjolras here, is still wearing the slacks and shirt he was wearing hours ago and nervous at this woman who basically walked right up to his home.

Eponine stealthily eyed Enjolras up and down, feigning to read the manual he gave her. She started to second guess if being here was a good idea since he looked so uncomfortable in his own home. Regardless, she's going to help him, for her own sake. Her bedroom is literally on the other side of the wall and it might be a little nice to hear him groan and moan (she is never going to acknowledge that out loud, nope, never) She needs to sleep because her shift starts in no less than 7 hours. She'll be lucky if she gets five hours of rest.

She hears him close the door of his closet, probably to change. A thought of him changing in front of her was enough for her to blush deep red. She hid her face with the manual and tried to actually read it when he left for the bathroom. She sighed with relief. She can't handle that image in her head. Better to leave the rest of his body to the imagination but she noticed his lean biceps and pair that with his sharp features and that goddamn jawline, oh dear.

"Eponine get a grip." she said, focusing intently on the exact same page on the manual since Enjolras handed it to her.

With him out of the room she got to read the manual itself, but as she sees the assembly pieces in front of her, no way it would've fit. She checked the cover and it seemed to be the same model as it is on the box. Eponine shrugged it off, must be a printing malfunction. She cringed at the other poor buyers of the same bed model. She looked at partially assembled pieces on the ground and clicked her tongue when something was put together with the wrong piece. Just because it fits doesn't mean they're right for each other. That's some wise carpenter words for you. She disassembled all of them and tried to find a picture of the bed model Enjolras bought. She found it on the box and was relieved to find it was just a standard issue model, single bed and nothing fancy. She ripped the picture of the box and placed it on the floor and she started to gather all the materials and arranged them by size and shape.

Enjolras stepped out clad in a loose shirt and shorts. Eponine tried to focus on the materials on the floor. He looked modest in his attire and she felt annoyed at him for changing clothes. Granted, this was his home and he does plan to sleep, bed or no (there is a mattress leaning against the far wall). Still, she can't stop staring at his toned body. She knew then and there that he was no stranger to hard work. He ran his hand through his slightly damp hair and Eponine bit her lip. She grabbed the picture on the floor and willed herself to think. She started marking off the materials and started planning which piece goes where when Enjolras sat down crossed leg on the floor. She smelled a whiff of his soap and she pinched the bridge of her nose cause goddamn he smelled so good.

"I'm sorry, took a quick shower to keep myself awake." Eponine nodded in response, chewing on the tip of a pencil she found lying on the ground.

"Egh." She sounded as she realized that it wasn't a good idea. She saw him bare the smallest of smiles and she fought the urge to smile back.

"Okay so." she said as she tried to draw how they were going to assemble the bed.

"Wait aren't we using the manual." he said.

"Umm yeah no. Fuck the manual."

"Excuse me?"

"If you actually read it. The instructions are for a wrong model. I think it's a printing malfunction or the attendant gave you the wrong one, either way, someone somewhere fucked up. So we're going to do this on our own." His eyes widened and he rubbed his eyes.

"Fine. Fine. What do we need to do?" It was easier for Eponine to focus now since they were delving deep into the task at hand. She likes to claim that she's a task minded person, focused until the job's done. She managed to figure out what the piece were using her "deductive reasoning" and actually smiled to herself and when she realized it was easier than she thought it would be.

"So after 30-45 minutes tops, we might be done." She clapped her hands free from dust as she put the plank down.

"How did you learn all this stuff?" he asked as he started to grab the large plank of wood that's meant to be the headboard.

"Ex-boyfriend used to be a carpenter. I would swing by his workshop once in a while." she said as she gathered the nails and a hammer.

"Ex?" he asked. Eponine frowned and shrugged her shoulders.

"Apparently I wasn't the only nail he was pounding." She could her Enjolras choke in his own spit and Eponine tried to suppress her laugh. She really did.

"You don't know how many times I've used that joke." she said in between laughter.

"I can only imagine." He said as he blushed. Eponine started pounding on the hammer and progress was being made.

Time flew y quickly and Enjolras was thankful that Eponine showed up in his doorstep. His bed was slowly being assembled and the more they progressed the more tired he became. His body responding to the notion that he is actually going to be able to sleep soon. Yet he felt refreshed by her company. She's direct and to the point but she would never pass up the opportunity to joke around. She would love to meet his friends. If she could. Maybe they would have a chance meeting in the hallway and he could invite her over. Yet, he's not really sure if she would agree to that. She might be open and direct but any question about her background and she seems to maneuver over it better than a politician. All he knew was that she had siblings living with her. "They're heavy sleepers but I'm not" she said. She didn't mention her parents and at this point Enjolras knew not to manages to wring the conversation back to something light hearted or shallow and Enjolras respected that. He was still a stranger after all. Hopefully after this, he could remedy that.

There was no mistake that Enjolras found Eponine beautiful. Her hair was messy and she looked like someone who is in need of a full eight hours, just like him. Her brown eyes, however, looked so full of life. She chews on her lips whenever she thinks and there's a magic to her eyes whenever she's focused on something. She looked prettier when determined and Enjolras can't help but stare. It didn't help that she was wearing shorts and a tank top. He guessed she wasn't even wearing a bra and he did not want his mind to go there. He even took a shower just to have an excuse to not stare at her.

It was 4:30 am and the bed was finally fixed. He had just helped Eponine place the mattress and both people sighed with relief. After a half hour of assembling and another half hour arguing where this one particular screw went.

"Where is it Enjolras?"

"I don't know. I thought you had it."

"No I gave it to you before I inserted the screw for the base."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did. Don't fucking lie to me."

"Wait so I'm the liar here. You told me earlier that the screwdriver was in the box but was actually buried in the Styrofoam packaging."

"How was I supposed to know how it got there? You were the one trying, and failing, to assemble this god damn bed in the first place."

"Get out of my house."

After they cooled down they found it lying under Enjolras desk. It somehow managed roll under there and Eponine was able to find it by crawling on the floor looking for it with a pen light. They ended up on the floor laughing at the argument they had earlier.

"I'm so glad this bed is done. I blame you for all of this." Eponine moaned.

"I take all of the blame." He raised his hands in mock surrender. His limbs started to become heavy and he knew that he would collapse anytime soon but he had to ask.

"How do we know it's sturdy?" To answer, Eponine walked to the other side of the bed and flopped herself down on it. There was the thud of the mattress but the bed didn't give. Enjolras nodded in approval before he tried it out for himself, using the same technique Eponine did. He never had a bed this comfortable in his life. Maybe he was exaggerating from exhaustion but he didn't care. There were no pillows or blankets but he was too tired to mind. He rolled to his side and found an already sleeping Eponine curled into ball, her head resting on her hands. Enjolras smiled to himself as he took a whiff of her shampoo, she smelled of lavender. Enjolras eyes were heavy and he could only remember himself shifting and pulling Eponine's warm body close to his.

Eponine was half awake, and she squinted at the brightness of the room. She was almost lulled back to sleep when she felt someone else's warm body pressed up next to hers. His arm wrapped around her waist and her head rested on the other. She rolled to face him and she could feel his breath warm against her forehead. She looked up at him and smiled. He looks so handsome. Eponine fought the urge to kiss his, undoubtedly soft, lips. She bit back her bitterness when she realized that this, this happening right now, was a result of both of them being extremely tired. This was never meant to happen, and will never happen again. Yet, she feels so comfortable in his embrace right now. She has never felt this rested, protected, anywhere and he's just her neighbor! This is just a onetime fluke. He'll wake up and realize what happened. She'll laugh it off blaming it on the lack of sleep. Cue awkward goodbye and they'll never talk to each other again. That sounds right. Yup. Or….. she could just leave right now and he could be none the wiser. It's not possible that he would remember it anyway. Once he checked that his belongings are all still here and she hasn't stolen anything then they would continue their lives as normal. Yeah, that's a good idea.

She tried to sit up but was pulled back in by Enjolras' strong embrace. Eponine tried to squirm, but oh my, she realized just how strong and yet gentle, he was.

"Enjolras." she whispered. He rolled on his back and managed to pull her against him.

"Go back to sleep." he murmured. Eponine could hear his slow and steady heartbeat and it was almost enough to pull her back to sleep. She cuddled closer to him, his legs intertwining with her.

"I have to go." she whispered again, hoping she can convince herself to leave his warm body behind.

"We're fine. We'll figure it out in the morning." Eponine rose up on her forearms. What did he mean?

"It is morning." she found herself joking. It took all of her not to kiss that sleepy smile he had.

"Shh." he brought his hand to caress her cheek. "Sleep."

She brought her head down to place a chaste kiss on the side of his mouth and rest her head against his chest. She listened to him and let her exhaustion take over, hoping they'll figure out whatever _this_ is later in the morning.


End file.
